Harvard Medical School Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets--some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity.

The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal.

"Mice are much closer evolutionarily to humans than any previous model organism treated by this molecule, which offers hope that similar impacts might be seen in humans without negative side-effects," says co-senior author David Sinclair, HMS associate professor of pathology, and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Labs for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging.

The Daily Galaxy essay that follows gives context to the historic COP14 Conference on the threats to the global environment being held in Ponznia, Poland.

There are a lot of competing theories out there when it comes to climate change. It seems that for every expert opinion there is an opposite opinion, and for every piece of evidence there are contrary views. Politicians, scientists and environmentalists alike canât seem to agree on all of the facts. But what about all of these computerized climate models coming out? Are they reliable and accurate? Can we trust the predictions these models generate?

Earth-like planets around stars smaller than our sun won't be liveable for long, according to a study led by Rory Barnes, a research associate with The University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Such planets can face "tidal extinction" within about a billion years.

A star only a quarter-to-a-tenth as massive as our sun is also cooler than our sun, so the "habitable zone" for its planets – where water is liquid – also will be closer in, Barnes said.

With the COPI4 Climate Change Conference (think Koyoto Conference) in progress in Poznia, Poland, The Daily Galaxy will be featuring not only the latest conference news, but also original insights on the issues confronting the planet's environmental future.

Spearheading what appears will be a dramatic change in the global
green initiatives, President-elect Barack Obama is arguing that there
is no better time
than the present to invest heavily in clean energy technologies. An
investment, he says, would confront the threat of unchecked warming,
reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and help revive the
American economy.

Scientists at Jet Propulsion Lab in California, the University of Colorado and the University of Central Florida in Orlando teamed up to analyze the plumes of water vapor and ice particles spewing from Saturn's Moon, Enceladus. They used data collected by the Cassini spacecraft's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). Cassini was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in 1997 and has been orbiting Saturn since July 2004.

The team, including, found that the source of plumes may be vents on the moon that channel water vapor from a warm, probably liquid source to the surface at supersonic speeds.

Cetaceans are known to be among the most clever and intelligent of all mammals. They have brains that are roughly the same size as humans or larger, which are similarly or superiorly complex (although differently evolved in structure). This has led some marine biologists to speculate that whales, and other Cetaceans, could be as intelligent as humans, and may even have several unknown communicative abilities, that surpass our current understanding through sonar and other means.

When it rains, it pours - and nowhere is that more true than on Mars. Phoenix's recent confirmation of little bits of water ice has been succeeded by the discovery of vast subterranean glaciers of water ice, in bands ringing the entire red globe. Unfortunately we can't transit pure adrenaline and electric shocks over the internet yet so it's hard to communicate just how truly exciting this news is.

Boston University scientists have created the world's first communications cyborg. He can only make three vowel sounds at the moment, so he probably sucks at Scrabble, but when you realize that those sounds are coming from a neuroconnection grafted directly into his speech center you have to be impressed.